Bhagavad Gītā · Chapter 13, Verse 19
प्रकृतिं पुरुषं चैव विद्ध्यनादी उभावपि।विकारांश्च गुणांश्चैव विद्धि प्रकृतिसंभवान्।।
prakṛtiṁ puruṣaṁ caiva viddhy anādī ubhāv api
vikārānś ca guṇānś caiva viddhi prakṛti-sambhavān
also searched as "prakritim purusham chaiva viddhy anadi ubhav api"
Translation
Know that both Prakṛti and the Self (Puruṣa) are without beginning; know that all modifications and the attributes are born from Prakṛti.
Vāṇi's rendering
Nature and the person in it — know both as beginningless. All change, every quality, springs from nature.
Word by word
| Sanskrit & transliteration | Meaning |
|---|---|
| प्रकृतिम्prakṛtim | nature — the whole field of matter, body, mind and their workings |
| पुरुषम्puruṣam | the person, the one present within nature |
| चca | and |
| एवeva | indeed, both alike |
| विद्धिviddhy | know (viddhi, its final vowel shortened before the next word) |
| अनादीanādī | without beginning — said of the two |
| उभौubhāv | both (ubhau, changed before api) |
| अपिapi | as well, equally |
| विकारान्vikārān | modifications, every change and alteration (the ś that follows is only the join with ca) |
| चca | and |
| गुणान्guṇān | the qualities, the strands that colour all experience (again joined to the following ca) |
| चca | and |
| एवeva | likewise |
| विद्धिviddhi | know |
| प्रकृति-सम्भवान्prakṛti-sambhavān | born of nature, having nature as their source |
Frequently asked
What does Bhagavad Gita Chapter 13 Verse 19 mean?
It means neither prakṛti nor puruṣa has a birthday. Krishna refuses to make one the cause of the other, or to locate a first mistake behind existence. And every alteration you can name — moods, capacities, the guṇas at work — arises within nature. The seer does not change; the field does.
What does prakritim purusham chaiva viddhy anadi ubhav api mean?
Know both, nature and the person, as beginningless. The word anādī covers the two together, deliberately. Krishna is not building a sequence where spirit falls into matter. He is describing an arrangement that simply is, and then telling Arjuna where all the movement in it comes from.
If nature produces all change, am I still responsible for what I do?
Krishna is not excusing anyone. He is relocating the noise. The guṇas surge and act; the anger is often there before you consent to it. What stays yours is whether you identify with the surge or see it. Responsibility lives in that seeing, not in pretending you authored the weather.
What is the difference between prakriti and purusha in this verse?
Prakṛti is everything that alters — body, breath, intellect, temperament, the qualities themselves. Puruṣa is the one present to all that altering, unchanged by it. Not two histories, but two orders. Learn which side of that line a thing falls on, and much of your inner argument goes quiet.
Themes in this verse
Read every verse this way, held — inside Vāṇi.
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Commentary
Krishna dates nothing. He does not say when nature began or when the person entered it; both are simply there, without a first day. That closes a door Arjuna keeps opening — the search for the moment things went wrong, the original fault. There isn't one. Then the second half: change belongs to nature. Your restlessness, your talent, the temper that flares before you choose it — these are qualities doing what qualities do. You are not their author and not their victim. Watch the weather of yourself move without signing your name to it.